Huge haul of illegal cash, liquor in election season

LUCKNOW: Unaccounted cash worth at least ` 45.24 lakh has been recovered during checking drives by static teams in the state capital within the last ten days. However, police suspect that the amount is just the tip of the iceberg, seeing as how money is changing hands illegally ahead of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Additionally, the police have also recovered around 5065 litres of illicit liquor from different parts of Lucknow during the poll season.

Acting on the belief that politicians often use cash and liquor to bribe voters during poll season, officials of the election commission have issued stern directives to curb the practice, following which static teams have been carrying out frequent checking on district borders and main crossings. SSP Praveen Kumar said inspections were conducted at strategic points to curb the practice. “On five occasions, cash has been recovered during checking and people carrying it failed to tell us the source of the money, following which it was deposited in the government treasury and income tax officials were informed about it,” he said.

The SSP said the first two recoveries we re ma d e at Gangaganj barrier in Gosaiganj on April 3, when around ` 15.57 lakh was seized from an Allahabad resident Arun Kumar Mishra and at least ` 5.82 lakh was seized from one Bupendra Singh. In another recovery ` 5.8 lakh was seized from one PK Pandey at toll plaza in Itaunja, while around ` 10 lakh was recovered form one Anoop Saxena at Qasierbagh crossing and ` 8.05 lakh from Rajendra Singh at Parivartan Chowk, he said, adding that the amount of cash seized would increase further in the days to come.

The cops also cracked down to curb illicit liquor manufacturing and its supply. The SSP said the police had prepared last 10 years’ excise pattern and formulated better precautionary strategies to curb such practices during poll period. He said the police also carried out drives to recover illegal firearms that could be misused during the poll process and had seized 63 illegal firearms from different parts of the state capital during the poll season.